Are all Teachers willing to sacrifice their Personal Luxuries for Students?
Teachers are highly revered individuals in every part of the globe. This is because they are the very embodiment of supreme knowledge, unwavering dedication, and immense, passionate love towards their area of expertise as well as towards their students. But in modern times, rarely we see this kind of selfless service among Teachers.
With the commercialisation of education, wage-oriented mindset, and lack of support, the teaching community has reduced to being mere puppets in the hands of educational institutions, rules, and laws. But as we see in many instances every day, humanity is not yet dead and there are always a few gems hiding in corners.
This story is about one such Teacher from Tamil Nadu. Annapurna Mohan from Viluppuram district in Tamil Nadu decided that her students deserved to study English in a very modern, sophisticated, and interactive environment.
The class 3 students of the Panchayat Union Primary School (PUPS) now walk into their government school and learn English with the help of an interactive digital smartboard, tons of high-quality, colourful, and exciting, age-appropriate English books. There is also a lot of comfortable furniture and a fun, colourful floor that is sure to make the children very excited to attend English classes every day.
Annapurna Mohan – The Amazing Teacher who sold her Jewellery for her Students
But the most amazing aspect of this story is that Annapurna Mohan literally sold off her own personal jewellery to make this state-of-the-art English class, a reality. By sacrificing her personal luxuries and single-handedly purchasing the entire setup, arranging, and organising the class, this teacher has shown her immense passion not just towards teaching, but for educating the enthusiastic little children.
Disregarding the fact that she was teaching in a Government school, and that her students all belonged to lower middle class families who could neither afford nor dream of experiencing such International level educational amenities, Annapurna was determined to give them what they truly deserved.
Integrating Modern methods into Teaching
Not only did Annapurna change the classroom environment, she also researched and implemented more interactive methods of teaching like skit enactments. She realised the importance of providing a comprehensive method of teaching English pronunciation using Phonetics and by shunning the classic rote method of Teaching/Learning that is prevalent among schools in the surrounding area.
Her focus is also on making complex English concepts like Sentence Structure and Grammar easier and simpler to the children who have no other means of obtaining this knowledge. The books alone cost Annapurna 5000 Rupees. She also adopted a British accent to better convey Phonetics to the students. This method, she says, will aid them in comprehending the right way of pronouncing English words.
Bringing back the True Essence of Teaching
Annapurna Mohan and her students gained fame on the Internet after videos of their study-skits were uploaded on Social Media. People from around the world have expressed their appreciation for the determined efforts of the Teacher and her students. We hope that Miss Annapurna will inspire other teachers in India and around the world to perform their duties in the same, selfless manner.
Written By: Anju V. Nambiar
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